Religion News: School district to remove Ten Commandments monument

Thursday

Feb 23, 2017 at 2:01 AM

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WEEK IN RELIGIONA school district in Pennsylvania has agreed to remove a Ten Commandments monument after receiving a complaint from an atheist mother of a student. Located about 20 miles north of Pittsburgh, the New Kensington-Arnold School District agreed to settle a federal lawsuit by removing a 6-foot tall monument dedicated to the Ten Commandments and paying $164,000 in legal fees. An atheist mother of a student originally filed a complaint in 2012. The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), an atheist organization, later took up the case on behalf of the mother of the student. Along with the payment of legal fees, the settlement states the school district must remove the monument within 30 days. — More Content Now

SURVEY SAYSAmericans ‘warming up’ to religious groups, except evangelicalsAmericans’ feelings toward evangelicals have stayed stable since 2014, but according to a new study, other religious groups have seen an increase of “positive feelings” in the same time span. According to the Pew Research Center, Jews, Catholics, Mormons and Hindus jumped in their standings with Americans, while atheists and Muslims saw the largest improvement in ratings. The study found that 44 percent of Americans feel positively about evangelicals, 38 percent feel neutral and 18 percent feel negatively. The study also found that when responses did not include evangelicals, 32 percent of Americans felt positively about the group. — More Content Now

GOOD BOOK?“Why I Left, Why I Stayed: Conversations on Christianity Between an Evangelical Father and His Humanist Son” by Tony Campolo and Bart CampoloBestselling Christian author, activist, and scholar Tony Campolo and his son Bart, an avowed Humanist, debate their spiritual differences and explore similarities involving faith, belief, and hope that they share. In “Why I Left, Why I Stayed,” the Campolos reflect on their individual spiritual odysseys and how they evolved when their paths diverged. Tony, a renowned Christian teacher and pastor, recounts his experience, from the initial heartbreak of discovering Bart’s change in faith, to the subsequent healing he found in his own self-examination, to his embracing of his son’s point of view. Bart, an author and Humanist chaplain at the University of Southern California, considers his faith journey from Progressive Christianity to Humanism, revealing how it affected his outlook and transformed his relationship with his father. — HarperOne

THE WORDGanesh: Pronounced “guh-NAYSH.” The beloved elephant-faced representation of God honored by Hindus and followers of other Indian religions, Ganesh is the remover of obstacles.— ReligionStylebook.com